The Charm of the Wolf
by FanFicBug
Summary: Mysterious things happen when a wolf charm finds its way into the hands of various people. Meanwhile, a young man is on a journey of self-discovery. A powerful lawyer threatens Roy's career. Second in an AU series in which Johnny has a sister - Nakee
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: This story is the second in a series (that I have yet to name) in which Johnny has a sister. The first story was called "Jokester" and is here on this site if you want to have a look at it. I know not everyone wants to read the previous story, so I did my best to make it so you can enjoy this one without reading the other.

Three significant characters introduced in the previous story, "Jokester"

Johnny's sister, Enakowa Gage: (Nakee is her nickname). She joins the Rampart crew as a nurse and has an enormous crush on Mike Stoker, and he likes her a whole lot too. Trouble is, they both fumble around each other like morons.

William (Billy) Brennings is a new Chief who once worked with Hank when he was a boot.

Carl Phillips, a sleazy paper pusher with delusions of rank. He's also the son of a retired fire chief and likes to use his imaginary rank to bully others - and the boys of 51 have been a bit not-nice to him last time...but Carl whole heartedly deserved what he got.

* * *

**THE CHARM OF THE WOLF**

Nakee Gage, a very pretty young brunette with her long hair in a braid, struggled to squeeze a trash bag full of clothes into Joanne Desoto's already overloaded Volkswagen. "I can't get it in there!"

From the window of her living room, Joanne was leaning out watching the other woman pack her car full of old clothes and toys. "Is there any more room in the jeep?"

Nakee knew her new friend couldn't see that the white LandRover at the far end of the driveway that was already so packed, she feared it might be illegal to drive like that. "No, there's no more room at all. I think I got a spot for this though!" Nakee moved a stuffed animal and a small box around in the back seat of the small car, and then just barely managed to squeeze the trash bag into the remaining space she made. Sides of trash bags were sticking out of the open windows, and she was reminded of a movie she'd seen called "The Blob."

Crunching of gravel on the driveway drew her attention. She turned to see Joanne had come limping out and was looking at the two vehicles. Her short chestnut hair looked particularly red in the sun, and a thick bandage on her leg was visible below the hem of her dress. "If I just had a little more space in my car, we could do this in two trips instead of three or five! You know lately I have to leave the kids with a sitter to go and get groceries because there's not enough room for both kids and the food! "Can you stay with me so we can make another trip?"

Nakee nodded as she tested the ropes she'd tied the trunk down with. "Sure! I have nothing better to do today. Besides, I haven't been to the Used Barn in a week." She paused to give her friend an uncertain look. "That is where you're taking these things, right?"

"Of course!" Joanne nodded, and put one last stuffed animal into an empty corner of the trunk which was open but tied down. "I can't thank you enough for helping me."

"I think all the clothes you gave me are thanks enough! And the shoes!" Nakee looked down at the blue sneakers on her feet that were practically brand new, but had been a size too small for Joanne. Nakee smiled as she went around the small car to check on the ropes she had holding things in place on the roof.

Joanne smiled slyly back to her friend. "After we drop this off, we could bring lunch to the station again. That way we can go oogle our fellahs?"

Nakee blushed as the smile fizzled, but she giggled despite herself. "I just have to get my purse."

"Me too!" Joanne limped after the younger woman, grinning as she decided to tease her a bit more, "So, did he ask you yet?"

Nakee stopped at the top step to turn and look back clearly with disappointment in her eyes. "No." She exhaled sharply, reminding Jo very much of Johnny. "Oh! He's never going to ask me out! If I keep waiting for him, I'll die an old maid!" She stepped into the kitchen to get her purse off the table, which she slung over her shoulder in a sulky way.

"This is a whole new age, Nakee." Joanne got her own purse down from the top of the refrigerator. "There's nothing wrong with asking a guy out. Besides, I know Stoker, he's as quiet as they come. You have to give him the invitation to talk."

"Maybe I'll just kick him! That'll get him to at least react!" Nakee's body language once again reminded her of her brother, Johnny Gage. Hands on hips and brows raised up to sharp points, she shrugged and then let out a long exhalation. "I guess I am old fashioned. I figure if he wants me to go out with him, then he should work up the nerve to ask me!"

"Dropping lots of very obvious hints doesn't fall into that philosophy of old fashioned behavior, does it?" Joanne teased with a smirk and limped a daring step forward.

Nakee stiffened a little, but ran for the door rather than let Jo see her blushing face. "Let's hurry! I wanna see if they got any new books at the store."

"Subject changer!" Jo snarled and laughed as she chased after the other.

-51-

Soon Joanne was driving down the road with Nakee behind her in the jeep. Both vehicles were filled to capacity, including the front seats, and only just enough room was left for the two drivers, and this was a spectacle to other drivers who seemed inclined to drive more slowly when they had to drive by them. After taking the roads out of the neighborhood, they turned onto a double laned main road. Coming up in the opposite direction was squad 51, traveling at a casual cruise and heading back to the station. The three vehicles beeped in recognition at each other.

Johnny smiled as they passed first Jo in her small Volkswagen, and then Nakee in his jeep. He noted how packed the two vehicles were and commented to Roy. "Did you get a look at that? They got both cars almost buckling under the weight of all that stuff!"

"Yeah, I saw." Roy answered with his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. "With the way they both chatter all day, I didn't think they were gonna get half that much done, even with the kids at my mother's house."

"You're not surprised by all that stuff?"

"Not at all!" Roy shook his head. "My mother and Jo's mother both love to go shopping for the kids. Sometimes I wonder if they compete with each other to see which of them can buy us more stuff. They run out of things to buy for the kids and start buying things for me and Joanne and they get all the wrong sizes. If I'm surprised by anything, it would be Joanne and your sister getting all that stuff out of the house in less than three trips."

Johnny shot his partner a bewildered expression. He would never speak rudely about another person's house, no matter how they chose to live, but he'd always thought the Desoto family had far too many things for their own good. Now he understood why.

"What do you suppose they'll buy us for lunch?"

"Huh?" The change of subject threw Johnny off and confused him.

"Your sister and my wife," Roy reminded his partner without looking away from the road as he drove. "The last three times they spent the day together, they brought us lunch at the station. I bet they do it again today."

"Oh." Johnny blinked and rubbed one eye. "Well, maybe." He wouldn't complain out loud, but really wanted to get back to the station and make himself a glass of Alka-Seltzer, and eating anything was the last thing he wanted to do. He'd already been feeling a little bit ill from the dinner Marko had made the night before with all the cheese and hot sauce. And then he'd been dumb enough to drink Chet's coffee that morning. Now he had terrible coffee rot that was bordering on nausea.

"Maybe they'll get chicken salad sandwiches and cole slaw again from Bob's deli." Roy's brows rose at the thought, and took no notice of Johnny's disgusted expression. "Or, some of those sandwiches with the gooey cheese and that orange sauce. Was that a mix of ketchup and mayonnaise?"

"Uhhh...be quiet about food." Johnny sank in the seat.

Roy was smiling as he daydreamed, but kept his eyes on the road ahead. "I hope they get another one of those coffee cakes for desert!" He didn't turn his head or see that Johnny was turning very ashen, but he did hear a whimper. "Sorry, I know you're hungry too. I can't help thinking about it. I'm starving. Haven't had anything to eat since that sandwich I grabbed yesterday. At least you got dinner last night. And I didn't even get any coffee this morning."

"Lucky you." Johnny moaned pathetically.

"Some of Nakee's coffee would certainly hit the spot right about now. She makes it better than you do. How'd you both learn to make good coffee but neither of you can cook? I mean that last batch of burgers you made was like eating burnt dog brains or something."

Johnny wanted to hide, but wiped imaginary sweat off his upper lip. "Ohhh man!"

"What is wrong with you?" Roy finally looked at him.

"Well, I...uh..."

The radio crackled, "Squad 51, Woman trapped in a pool drain, 718 Fordham road..."

Roy hit the siren and Johnny put on his helmet and got out his papers and scribbled things out. He acknowledged the call and did his best to forget that his stomach was unhappy. Maybe if Roy didn't talk about food, he'd feel better.

The siren wailed in the distance and though Dale Wilson's ears heard it loud and clear, his mind didn't know a thing about it. He was late and if he didn't get to his class very soon, he would miss his test, which was already a scheduled make up, and this being Saturday, if he didn't show up, his professor would flunk him for sure! And Dad would be yelling for a month if he flunked again. Maybe if he'd been able to find a place to park his car on campus instead of in the neighborhood, he wouldn't be in this fix! But, he'd been late and all the good spaces were full. He'd have to run all the way to class and he'd still be late! His pre-occupied mind had no idea that the siren was a lot closer now than before, and he stepped into the street...

Roy was barreling down the road, or so it seemed like he was. In a residential neighborhood in mid-summer on a bright day with kids playing all over, 40 miles an hour might as well have been 120. There was no safe speed when you were driving a vehicle heavy enough to turn the average sized human being into something that would resemble ham salad. He spotted a girl with wild golden hair, and she had one foot one foot on the curb, and she had her hand firmly planted on a toddler's shirt and was not letting go even though he was angrily trying to brush her off. Both were looking straight at him and not going for the road at all. Still, he worried they might just bolt out in front of him because kids were just so unpredictable. He tensed the muscles in his right leg and prepared to slam on the brake.

Johnny lifted his helmeted head from his notebook just in time to see a suspicious shadow on the pavement. He looked to the right, and sure enough, saw the motion of a human head visible just over the top of a parked car a few dozen yards ahead. He knew that person was running and wasn't going to stop, so he screamed, "LOOK OUT!"

Roy's instinctive reaction to his partner's scream was to slam his foot on the brake before he even could snap his head back to forward view, away from the kids on the other side. He saw the figure stepping into the road in front of the squad that was not going to stop in time although he was aware the wheels had locked and were now screeching on the pavement. He threw the wheel to the right in an attempt to steer away from both the kids and the running person. Metals screamed and crunched as the squad impacted the front fender of the other car. Metal pealed away from both with a loud bang and a horrible crunching. Roy's concern went to his partner. He got a vague impression of Johnny lifting an arm instinctively as he pitched forward into the dashboard with a yelp of fright. In front of the squad, he saw a person falling. The girl on the other side of the street let out a terrified scream.

'God! I hit him!' Roy thought as inertia threw him forward into the steering wheel.

More soon...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

Stars? Snow? A horn blaring? Siren wailing? What happened? Roy knew he didn't actually pass out. But he felt like his mind had been turned off and on again and he had no sense of time in between. He lifted his head up slowly, and saw only darkness. It took a second for him to realize his helmet was down over his eyes. He lifted a shaking hand to fix it, and looked around. Every detail of every object in visual range stood out with perfect clarity, and every noise stood out even over the noise of a blaring horn and siren. Every sound echoed inside of his rattled mind, but nothing he saw or heard was reaching his brain. He was too shaken and too startled to think about what had just happened, and what was now going on.

'Get it together, Desoto!' Someone had to look after the situation and that someone was himself. Ahead of the squad, there was no sign of the person who'd walked out in front of him, but he knew there was a lot that he couldn't see in front of the wheels. The horn that was blowing belonged to the car he'd hit. And the siren- he flicked a switch to shut it off, and grabbed the CB to call for help. The dispatcher didn't sound especially happy when a ten-four came back to him. Roy exhaled heavily as he put the mic back and took a precious half-second to put a hand to a hurting spot on his lower lip. His hand came away bloody, but nothing worth complaining about to...

"Johnny!" he remembered and looked over. His helmeted partner was face down against the dash. His right forearm rested just over his head, and his left arm dangled toward the floor, and this was worrisome. "Johnny, you hear me?"

Johnny didn't move.

"LA, Engine 51, responding to squad 51's location!" The radio spouted out before the dispatch could call on a company. It made sense to Roy since the station was less than four blocks away. But, it could have been somewhere else, and he sent a small prayer of gratitude upward for sending his own familiar co-workers to the rescue. Outside somewhere, he could hear children making high-pitched exclamations while neighbors were yelling to each other, and the inevitable crowd was starting to gather.

"Johnny? You all right?" He asked nervously of his unresponsive partner. "Can you hear me?" He reached a hand out, but Johnny seemed to sense it was coming and his left arm suddenly came to life and he put up his hand in a 'gimme a second,' gesture. After a deep breath, he slid that same hand between his face and the dash. And very slowly, sat upright with his hand covering most of the left side of his face. Roy noted a smear of blood on the dash. And now there was a thin line of blood oozing down Johnny's arm, coming from between his fingers.

"Lemme see." Roy insisted, and reached for his partner's hand to try to pull it away.

"AH! AH!" Johnny objected loudly and winced away from his reach, leaned back against the seat and spoke in a slurred voice. "m'aright..."

"Lemme see where all this blood is coming from!" Roy tried to make this sound like an order as he tried again to pull his partner's hand away from his face.

"It's fine!" Johnny ordered right back, voice much clearer this time, muffled only by his hand. "I can wait! Go!" He motioned to the front of the vehicle. "Go see what happened!"

Roy wanted to sit and argue and make demands, but the person on the pavement was probably hurting a lot more than Johnny at the moment, and for all he knew, might even be dead. "You stay put! Don't move!"

"Okay."

Roy pictured his partner getting out of the squad wanting to help with their unintended victim only to pass out. He didn't want him to move until he was sure he was all right, "I mean it Johnny! Stay there!"

"A'right! All right! I won't move!" He shouted testily.

Roy threw open his door and hung on to it with one hand as he got out of the squad. His entire body was shaking from the fright of the incident and he was afraid he'd fall over. Though he knew it was perfectly normal for victims of accidents to get a case of the shakes, he just wasn't used to being the one who was doing it. Now he understood why people barked and gnawed on their rescuers. He was a bundle of nerves, ready to go off like a firecracker as soon as someone looked at him. As he crept around to the front of the squad, he dreaded what he would find, and pictured a child in a puddle of blood with bones sticking out of bloody wounds, or some old man with a shattered pelvis.

But what he saw was a much worse shock because it was such a relief. A guy in his late teens, twenty at the most, was sitting there just in front of the left fender. He was shaking like a lamb and clutching one arm. As Roy approached, the wild haired and wide-eyed pedestrian looked up at him. "That was really really close!"

Roy knew he was not seriously injured. And just by looking at him knew he either had not hit him, or had only barely nudged him. The fact that he ran out in front of the squad like that ticked off though. Still, he had to be civil. "Are you all right?"

"What?" he called over the horn.

Roy spoke up and repeated himself.

"I...yeah, I..." He sat up a bit straighter and seemed to think a minute. "I just...I just fell. You missed me by like an inch, and it scared me and I f-fell over backwards just as you stopped." he laughed stupidly and showed his elbow with a bloodied spot. "I tore up my elbow. That's all."

"That's all?" Roy shook his head as he looked back at his bleeding partner. It was possible Johnny had a head injury serious enough to be deadly. Then there was the rescue they'd been heading for that had to be taken into consideration. Whoever was waiting for help might be near death, and now they would have to wait for another different squad. But, here was a guy acting like he did nothing worse than spill a glass of milk. No harm done because he was just dandy. If not for the gathering crowd of onlookers, many of whom were children, Roy might have strangled the blithering idiot.

*51*

Captain Hank Stanley surveyed the situation from the passenger seat of Engine 51 as the accident scene grew larger in the forward view of the rumbling vehicle. He saw that the squad's right side was squashed against the front fender of a station wagon and the two vehicles formed a 'V.' His first instinct was to search for smoke, flames, or fluids spilling out of either vehicle. Although, Hank knew his engineer hated it when he jumped out before the truck came to a complete stop, he did it anyway and hit the ground already jogging down the road to the scene leaving his men to their jobs. He came to a halt on the sidewalk a few steps away from the passenger side door of the empty (thank goodness) station wagon. From the black tire streaks on the street, he guessed the vehicle had been shoved a good six feet away from its starting position, and not only had it moved down the road, but also been shoved up and over the curb. The front passenger side wheel was folded up underneath the carriage, which was resting on the sidewalk. The entire front fender was torn off, and the hood was buckled up into a tent-like shape.

The squad too had been damaged, mostly the passenger side over the wheel was bent and mangled which was now practically melded to the station wagon's front corner. And there was Gage in his seat in the squad, sitting up, trying to see what was going on. It wasn't like him to be still, Hank thought and guessed he was either injured or trapped, or both. Quickly, he popped open the station wagon's hood and pulled the plug on the horn to relieve them all of the aggravating wailing noise. Now the captain could hear the steady drone of civilian voices in the background and on top of it all was Roy's anxious voice: "Look, you have to stay here! You can't run off! We have to get you checked out at...!" The noise of oncoming sirens drowned out the rest of what he was saying, and Hank found reason to put his attention elsewhere. He could smell gasoline, and opened his mouth to shout out to his engine crew to tend to the situation, but to their credit, they were already pulling hose. Leaving them to it, Hank sidestepped over to the squad and wrenched up the hood to do the usual preventative wire clipping. The sirens stopped as black and white police cruisers halted in the intersection. One of them was car 12.

"But I'm really all right! Roy, I swear I'm fine!" The young man whined. "I have a test and I can't miss it!"

"Look, it's not as important as your life!" Roy argued. "Just stay here. Stay here so I can have a look at my partner."

"I'm sorry, I can't stay! My father's going to kill me if I don't..."

"Just stay put!" Roy's exasperation wasn't lost on Hank. He made eye contact with Johnny through the squad's window while he shouted orders into his handie talkie that echoed back at him from the engine's intercom speaker. Once all the police and his men and the dispatch knew what to do, he clicked off the radio and looked to his junior medic, "Gage, how you doing?"

"I'm all right, Cap. Just a scratch." He sounded less than enthusiastic, so Hank knew he wasn't quite as all right as he said, and judging from the blood all over his bare left arm that it was a lot more than just a scratch. "Just stay put, we'll get to you." He didn't wait for a response because he knew it would be a question. He didn't have time for questions. He headed for Roy, who was the most likely person to give him the answers he needed.

"What happened?" He asked, and was just in time to give Roy a hand lifting the kid up off the ground and they both helped him to sit at the curb. Officers Malloy and Reed were approaching and Roy figured it would be better to tell them the story all at the same time. But, he really wanted to go look after Johnny, and with the hood up and Marko in the way, he couldn't see if his partner was still sitting upright. He just hoped the necessary explanation would be quick.

*51*

Johnny could see very little of what was going on through the windshield with the hood in the way. Through the space between the hood and the dash, he could see some of the Captain, and the top of Roy's head. Either hoods or people or bushes were in the way. Too much noise from the rushing water from a hose, as well as people chattering at each other. He saw Chet run back and forth a few times and somewhere behind the squad, he knew Mike and Marko were working diligently. Soon, there was a rough thumping, and the squad was shaking, but he didn't know what it was. The mirror on his door was broken in the collision and he couldn't stick his head out the window to see anything. "What's going on behind me?"

"It's me and Mike!" Came Marko's voice, and then a loud sound as something metal hit concrete, and a hose was shut off. He leaned into the frame of the window and grinned to cover his worry. "How you doing?"

"Oh, I'm great!" Johnny smiled toothily. "I was thinking maybe I should try something new today. Like dashboard diving."

His response made Marko smile back. "Hang in there! Chet's coming to look after you."

The noise of the hose continued, and something metal clanked on the ground again, and then Mike requesting Marko hand him something. Johnny exhaled his frustration and decided he was tired of sitting there like a good boy. He wanted to help Roy, but when he tried to shove his door open, found that his foot was pinned between the seat and the door, and the door was not going to open. "Marko?" He called, but his shift-mate was out of hearing range. He scowled down and worried as he tried to move his toes but felt nothing at all, even when he put his hand down to feel the long bones. It seemed to be all right. Just numb. Still, he couldn't go anywhere. Rather than think about it too much, he focused his full attention on the space between the squad's open hood and the dash. It wasn't much of a view, but it was something.

*51*

"Gage? You all right?" Chet called into the squad and then climbed in next to him. He saw the smear of blood on the dash and Johnny holding one hand over his face, covering most of the left side of it. Blood ran down his bare arm in a streak, dripped downward off the point of his elbow and spattered onto his pants as well as the squad's seat.

Johnny was trying to hard to see what was happening in front of them and didn't look at Chet. "Chet! What happened? Did we hit that other guy?"

"I don't think so, man! He's just sitting there on the curb whining about some test he's missing. Roy tried to turn his back on him for one second and he almost bolted like a scared rabbit. Too bad Cap was in his way or we'd be rid of him. What about you though?"

"I'm all right!"

"Like hell you are!" He objected as he gestured with one hand. "Look at you! You're leaking all over the squad here!"

Johnny did a double take and scowled. "Leaking...Chet what the...!"

"Lemme see this." Chet eased Johnny's helmet off, and then grabbed his wrist gently and tried to pull, but the medic resisted. "Lemme see!" He commanded and pulled again. This time, Johnny surrendered, but hissed through his teeth as the air hit the wound and made it sting. Chet knelt up on the seat to have a careful look and found a cut in the corner of his hairline, and it came at an angle so that when not held in place, a flap of skin wanted to hang down, and blood was drooling out of it liberally. He also noted Johnny's eye was squeezed shut, but it wasn't swelling or discolored, so he guessed blood was getting into it and making it sore. "You're gonna need..."

"...stitches. I know." Johnny grumbled as he put his hand back to hold the wound together with his fingers.

There was a rough rocking of the squad and then a loud slamming, and Marko called, "Chet, what d'ya need?"

Chet crowded into Johnny's already small space and leaned over him to stick his head out the window. "Marko, Gimme three of them, and one of those and I need that thing right there...yeah, the green papery thing!"

"Would you get off me!" Johnny objected and tried to shove him away because his armpit was almost in his face. "And you don't need the 'green papery thing." He mocked Chet's vocabulary. "I don't want my eye covered! It's fine!"

"All right! Okay! Relax man!" Chet scolded as he pulled his upper half back into the squad. Marko handed the items in through the window, and once it was all sitting on the dash, Johnny couldn't help but to be a wise ass. "You know, you're gonna need the tape to..."

Chet grouched at him as he tore open a packet. "We know how to put a bandage on your little boo-boo, Gage."

"Boo-Boo!" Johnny objected loudly and hollered to Marko as he shook a fist in Chet's direction. "Does this look like a little boo-boo to you?"

"I think it's just an over excited little thing like you are!" Marko laughed, and Johnny knew he was only trying to make it sound genuine.

"Little?" Johnny scowled out the window.

Chet cracked up as he gently slid the absorbent pad into place between Johnny's pressing fingers and his scalp. Marko reached in to rough Johnny's shoulder to let him know he was just teasing.

"Har-hardy har har!" Johnny grumped, but actually he did appreciate their efforts to distract him from the unpleasant situation. He held still and let Chet wrap gauze around his head, and sighed his relief to be able to finally put his arm down rather than hold his face together.

Chet put a pad over his eye very gently. Johnny stiffened and moaned. "Aw...! Don't cover my eye!"

"Hey, I don't have to just answer to Bracket man! I have to answer to Roy and your sister too!" Chet shouted defensively. "You know, she's scary when she's mad!"

Johnny surrendered because there wasn't much else he could do. He knew what Chet was really saying was his eye looked messed up and he was just being cautious. He'd probably be doing the same thing in his place.

*51*

"Dale Wilson." The boy repeated his name to the Captain and the two officers who were standing up around him. "Harold Wilson is my father!"

Marko jogged in between the officers and put a black box next to Roy who was squatting in front of Dale and trying unsuccessfully to look him over.

Officer Malloy looked stunned. "Dale, when you say, Harold Wilson, are you referring to the lawyer who runs the office on Harvest Avenue?"

Wide eyed, the kid looked up at the officer. "Yeah, that's him. You two know him?" Dale asked almost conversationally.

Malloy and Reed glanced at each other and then were apparently doing their best to retain neutral expressions. "Yes, we both know him."

"I'm very sorry." Dale's apology was not in the least bit sarcastic.

Roy began to clean Dale's bloody elbow. "This might sting a little."

"Not as much as my father's going to sting me for missing this test!" He complained yet again, and Roy was sick of hearing about the test and wanted to roll his eyes. Instead, he focused on doing his job. But he felt sick about having to sit there with Dale to stop him running off while Johnny was in far worse shape. There was nothing he could do about it though, and from the looks he was seeing on the faces of the other guys, he guessed Johnny wasn't all that bad off anyway.

Hank drew the two officers away from the others with a motion of his hand so he could speak softly with them. "Are you talking about the lawyer who's in the news all the time? The one who sues everyone?"

"And always wins." Reed stated matter of factly.

"That's exactly who we're talking about," stated Malloy with a not so happy look on his face.

"Of all the rotten luck!" Hank scowled down at the pretzeled station wagon, and resisted the urge to kick the fender. "You think he'd bring a case up for this?"

"I'm sure he would, Captain." Reed nodded. "If he thinks there's money in it for him, he will. That's for certain!"

Malloy only shrugged. "We've dealt with Wilson before. He is one of the most ruthless lawyers in the business. He plays dirty: Bribes witnesses: Hires the right people to make evidence lean in his favor. He's got a lot of friends in high places willing to do him favors too."

Reed added, "And he's been known to attempt to intimidate witnesses. He has a way of getting a case to go the way he wants it to go."

Hank tipped his helmet back a bit, and let out a long exhalation. He was very well aware that Chief Billy Brennings was on duty at this time, and that he was as much of an exasperation as he was an old pal. Though he hated to do it, he lifted the HT and called, "LA, Engine 51, respond Chief Brennings to my location."

"Engine 51." The response echoed from the engine speaker.

Hank looked heavenward as the stupid kid once again tried to whine at Roy about his test. Malloy and Reed exchanged nods of understanding. "Better take this by the most cautious route possible, Captain." Malloy advised.

More Soon...


End file.
